At the outset I was hopeful while watching "Whiteout." However, as time dragged on so did the film. The film has had a complicated history and it shows in the final film. "Whiteout" is based on a limited comic and the film's story is just as limited.

The film was shot in a miserable Antarctic setting. The cold and misery shows on the actors. The actors also seem to start showing signs of a busted movie as time wears on. This is supposed to be a suspenseful film, but the mystery is dull and the turn of events of predictable.

In "Whiteout," Kate Beckinsale portrays a U.S. Marshal, Carrie, who is stationed by her own choice in Antarctica. She is punishing herself for a botched drug bust, which ended up not even remotely being her fault. She wastes her does taking reports on the theft of weed. She has made friends with the base doctor played by Tom Skerritt. Trouble will certainly ensue there.

When Carrie is summoned to the middle of nowhere to claim a frozen, dead body, she starts to uncover a plot that is far simpler than filmmakers would lead you to believe. She is annoyed that this happens on her last day at the South Pole before winter sets in.

Carrie treks out to a Russian base to discover what happened to the dead man from one of his colleagues. Unfortunately, she is attacked and suffers the loss of a few appendages. It is at this point that the film drags out the chase. The audience is already the wiser as to what is going down, thanks to a far too detailed film opening. However, viewers will have to suffer through the monotonous chase sequences to get the last little detail.

I feel bad for the actors that had to brave the fierce weather to make this turd of a film. I truly wish I could give a better report. But alas, I cannot.

"Whiteout" does not come to Blu-ray with a stunning video transfer, and
for the most part I can understand why. The film was shot under
difficult circumstances and miserable weather conditions. Thought
processes and equipment functionality becomes fuzzy under those
conditions. The film is a bit inconsistent. Film grain goes from
unnoticed to obtrusive with evident digital noise reduction in
between. Colors are bold but suffer from bleed due to wavering
contrast levels. Overblown contrast levels during the flashback
sequences, which take place in Miami, creates an orange and red image
that does stay clean. Black levels are the strongest point for the
video transfer. The weak contrast also makes signs unreadable. There
is a tilting shot that shows a wooden sign with arrows in all
directions and place names on the arrows. These are virtually
unreadable. Oddly though, the same clip in a deleted scene is entirely
readable. Whites are not as clean as I would have liked for a film
that takes place in snow and blizzards. Fleshtones are also
inconsistent. My biggest gripe with the transfer would have to be the
level of details. Within the same sequence, one close up is vivid
while the reverse is muddy. If this a production issue, then it is
evident the cold got to the camera operators. Avid movie watchers will
not be impressed with this transfer.

The audio is in much better shape than the video transfer. The Dolby
TrueHD 5.1 audio track is strong, but has some issues. The dialogue is
generally clean and well prioritized. However, there are instances of
muffled lines and poor miked dialogue recordings. The interior
acoustics have been exaggerated by the sound designers. It is not
realistic by any means. I happen to have first hand knowledge of
this. The surround channels are engaging. However, there are key
moments in which the surround channels fail to immerse and impress.
Winds whip through the audio channels, but directionality and panning
is spotty. LFE support is strong and complements full-band channels
nicely. The dynamic range is not as expansive as it could have been,
but the elements of the audio track are nicely balanced.

There are only three bonus materials. Sadly, there is no commentary
track. "The Coldest Thriller Ever" is about the harsh conditions in
which the film was shot. "From Page to Screen" covers the adaptation
of the film form the comic. Lastly, there are a few deleted scenes
that don't offer much. The package also comes with a Digital Copy of
the film.

"Whiteout" might be a rent for some, but I can't recommend owning this release for either the film or the transfer.